Tuesday, July 13, 2010

For a group of teenage soccer players from a local club, a match against any national team is an important affair. But when that group of soccer players is a combination of Space Coast United's Under-16 and Under-19 girls, and their opponent is the Haiti under-17 women's national team, things go a little bit deeper.

The teams will play at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday in conjunction with the Disney Cup International Youth Soccer Tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World.

The Haitian team -- which was eliminated from the Under-17 World Cup earlier this year after a 9-0 loss to the United States Under-17 women's national team -- is at the tournament through the support of Walt Disney World and the U.S. team that defeated them, spurred by goalkeeper Bryane Heaberlin of Clearwater.

The young Brevard players, who are trained by Florida Tech women's coach Fitzgerald Haig, a native of Haiti whose father was killed in last January's earthquake, already have established a bond of sorts with the visitors.